Staying Safe
by Amy Elizabeth
Summary: Some DH spoilers Sometimes you need to stay safe for someone else's sake, and sometimes you need to fight for your family. A discussion between Ginny and Tonks during DH that setsup their meeting in the Room of Requirement.


**Staying Safe**

**By: **Amy Elizabeth

**Disclaimer: **All things _Harry Potter _belong to J.K. Rowling. No infringement or financial gain intended.

**A/N: **_I've_ been interested in the Ginny/Tonks friendship and over my 15-hour trip to and from NYC I fleshed this out. (So much for focused driving). There are minor DH spoilers in here and I suppose the RLNT is implied; I'll write a more explicit one later.

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"I told you, I am done talking about it, Mum!" Ginny Weasley pushed her face further into her pillow, ignoring the soft knock at her bedroom door. The Burrow was ominously quiet this Christmas, Bill and Fleur had decided not to come, Ron was still gone, and even the twins seemed more subdued. Some of the Order members' presence had done something to buoy her mother's spirits but after her rather spectacular display about how Ginny wasn't to be doing anymore "trouble-making" for "good purpose or not" at Hogwarts anymore, Ginny had decided she didn't care in the slightest how her Mum felt.

The knock persisted, "Go away!"

"Its Tonks, Ginny." A young voice drifted through Ginny's door, "Open up or I'll be forced to knock down your door; and I don't really want your Mum mad at me, too." There was a laugh in the Auror's voice but since Ginny had known her to do more impulsive things than break into a teenager's room; she decided it was safer to just to open the door.

_Besides, I do like talking to Tonks, most of the time. _She cracked the door and peered up at the pink-haired woman.

"Can I come in? I'd like to talk to you."

Ginny grimaced a little as she let the door swing wider, "I suppose so."

Smiling, Tonks made her way inside the room and perched herself on the bed, "Nice Weird Sisters poster." She indicated the wall opposite where she was sitting.

"Mum wasn't very happy when you gave it to me." Ginny let a little smile slip, "So, I put an Engorgement Charm on it."

"Nice one." Tonks grinned at her appreciatively, "Though its too bad such little acts of rebellion don't seem that important anymore." The look on the older woman's face suddenly seemed so _motherly_ that Ginny began to feel uncomfortable. "What was all that about downstairs? I'm worried about you."

_Damn it. _ Ginny felt herself bristle. Tonks had always been so much like an older sister or even friend, and such a cool one at that, that Ginny couldn't stand being mothered by her all the sudden. If this being pregnant thing was going to make Tonks suddenly become all _parental_ on her…

"I don't need another mother." She looked away stubbornly at her window, "And I don't need anybody else _worrying _about me. I can take care of myself."

"I know." The response was so simply and confidently stated that Ginny couldn't resist taking a glance at Tonks' face.

"What do you mean?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but didn't look away.

"You _are_ a good witch, Ginny. A really good witch. That's not the problem." Tonks suddenly leaned in a little closer, her voice dropping to a whisper, "And I think your mum is enough mother for all of us."

Relief suddenly flooded through Ginny; Tonks wasn't abandoning her to join forces with the rest of the adults. She had never found herself more grateful for an ally.

"I just want to help, Tonks, I'm the only one who isn't." She glared angrily at her door, "Bill and Charlie have been in the Order from the start, the twins got to join, and now even _Ron _is out on some secret mission even you all don't know about!" She gave an angry huff, "I'm barely younger than Ron! I could help too. I _want _to help! Its driving me crazy being in the dark when everyone else gets to be let in on everything. I worry too! About Mum and Dad, about my brothers, you, Harry…"

"I know how you feel, more than you think I do."

Her retort died half-formed on her lips as she took in the Auror's face. Tonks had lost all of her normal humor and instead looked deadly serious. For an instant Ginny was sure that she was about to get another lecture about danger and how young she really was.

But then it hit her; Tonks was taking _her _seriously.

_As an adult to an adult. _Ginny swallowed,

"Why?" The question came out slowly and softly, despite how desperate she was to finally get a real response to her frustrations.

Tonks stood and padded her way over to Ginny's small window, her hand draped protectively over her stomach. "Ginny, you know I was far too young to fight in the first Order, right?"

"Yea, but you were a lot younger than me."

She could see the smile on Tonks' profile as she looked out the window, "I don't mean that I wanted to fight. I might have, if I had thought about it, but I didn't even own a wand yet."

Ginny, not sure where her friend was going, decided to stay quiet. In time, Tonks turned back towards her, resting herself against the windowsill, "It took me a long time when I joined the Order to really understand what the people in that room had given up the first time." She patted her stomach, "They all, including your parents and my husband, sacrificed everything they had; their lives, their friends, their families, in order that people like you and me never would have to. They lost so much, Ginny, and I know that I don't have to remind you how many people died in that first war."

Ginny nodded mutely. "But they all fought for _something_. And what made those sacrifices worth it for your mother was that her children would grow up never having to know the dangers she did. And now…"

Tonks' voice had become a little strained, "Ginny, I didn't know how much I stood to lose in this war. At first, I was fighting because it was what I knew was right, I didn't understand that I would end up fighting for something much more personal than the 'greater good'. Then I lost Sirius,and suddenly I knew what it was like to lose family, even family I had barely known. I lost Remus to his mission and I learned how war drove people apart, even people who loved each other. Then we lost Dumbledore and Mad-Eye, two of the greatest wizards of our time, wizards that I looked up to, and I learned that even the strongest of us die. Suddenly, in the last three years, I've felt very keenly what sacrifice is and know how very much I stand to lose." Tonks looked down at her extended belly, "I would die to keep my husband and our child safe, Ginny."

"I've lost them too, but at least you've been able to fight for them." She knew she sounded a little petulant but she couldn't find it in herself to care, "All I want is to be able to do is fight for those I care about."

Tonks nodded slowly, "I understand that and respect it. But what I'm trying to say is that now I have a perspective that you can't. It would kill me, Ginny, if I knew that, in seventeen years, my baby had to fight this war all over again. It would make all the pain and loss seem a little more…fruitless, I suppose. And that, _that _Ginny, is what your mother is going through. She lost friends, _brothers_, to that war to keep her children safe. Now, she's facing the horrors of the same war all over again but this time with seven children to protect. But, unfortunately for you and her, you're the last one she can."

A few moments of heavy silence stretched in the room. The faint whispers of wind and the strains of the wireless in the living room mingled with the two women's deep breaths. Tonks crossed back to the bed and sat facing Ginny with her back to the door.

"I'm not fighting anymore either, Ginny. That's what I meant when I said I understood how you felt."

Ginny's eyes widened, "Why not?"

Tonks smiled and patted her stomach again. "You think they'd let me out there like this? Remus threatened to take my wand the other day to keep me inside."

Ginny felt a little thick, "Oh yeah, I didn't really think about that."

"I didn't either, at first." The older woman let out a little laugh; "I fought tooth and nail with Remus _and _Kingsley about it. They won, of course, and it's driven me crazy to sit and wait for my husband and friends to come back from missions. I want more than anything to be out there fighting with him." Suddenly, she grabbed Ginny's hand, "But as much as I love him and worry about him; I realized that sometimes it's more important to stay safe for someone else's sake."

Ginny couldn't keep the slightly frustrated look off her face, "You for your baby and me for my Mum and Dad."

"And for Harry." Tonks smiled at the slight blush on Ginny's cheeks, "Your survival makes their sacrifices worth it and it gives them a reason to fight; like I'm fighting for him."

"_Him_?" She knew that out of everything Tonks had just said it was a little silly to pick up on _that_ but, still, any baby news was exciting.

Tonks suddenly broke out into a grin, "Don't tell Remus; he doesn't want to know."

Ginny grinned back, "I won't." She leaned in conspiratorially, "What are you thinking of naming him?"

Tonks glanced over her shoulder towards the door, as if expecting to see that her husband had snuck up behind her and caught her in her confession, "Well, we decided, _if _it was a boy, to name him in honor of someone. Mad-Eye is my current favorite."

Ginny gave Tonks a sad smile, "I think that will be lovely."

Tonks snorted in laughter and they both settled back against the headboard of the bed, feet stretched in front of them as they reclined. A far more comfortable silence passed between them as they listened to the warbling voice of Celestina Warbeck drift from downstairs.

Tonks sighed as a song finished, "I think I had kinda hoped that wartime would mean they wouldn't play this awful music anymore. I mean, I don't know why they wouldn't but…"

"I don't know if I can just wait around for this all to end."

To her credit, Tonks didn't miss a beat, despite being cut off, "Then don't. Practice and prepare yourself to help. If you want to work on some spell-work; I'll be glad to show you some stuff I learned in Auror training." She quickly glanced at the door again before dropping her voice to a whisper, "But do not tell your mother." She paused, "Or my husband." She added hastily.

"Thank you, Tonks." Ginny felt the familiar glow of sisterly affection she had for the woman next to her.

"Of course." Tonks voice was affectionate but her faces held some of that hard seriousness again. "All of this doesn't mean there might not be a time when you have to fight for your family. I'm going to do everything in my power to bring this baby safely into this world and I hope to Merlin that this war is over by that time; but if its not I'm going to go back out fight to the death to make sure this world is safe for him." Her smile softened, " I'd better get back downstairs, my husband will begin to think you and I have gotten into mischief."

Ginny nodded as Tonks maneuvered herself off the bed and towards the door. "You know, you being pregnant has made you pretty wise, Tonks."

Tonks laughed out loud as she opened the door, "Let's hope it makes me less clumsy too." She grinned back at the young girl on her bed, "We'll start tomorrow on those spells."

Ginny grinned, feeling more in control than she had in days, "Great." Suddenly a thought crossed her mind,

"Tonks!" The door paused just as it was about to close and began to swing the other way, "How will I know when its time to fight?"

The small, confident smile that tugged at Tonks' mouth was all the answer she needed, "You'll know."

………………………………………………….

As soon as the door to the Room of Requirement closed behind them Ginny looked to her older companion, "Its time to fight for our families, isn't it?"

Tonks smiled a little but Ginny still had to resist the urge to pull back from the hard, desperate anguish in the woman's eyes, "Yes. It is."

Ginny nodded firmly as they both pulled their wands and headed towards the window.


End file.
